The Superior One
by Tal'Raka
Summary: This is a story that takes place immeditaly after brood war. It has a new zerg creature that becomes independent from the overmind.
1. Hatchling

The UED task force had been brutally smashed by Kerrigan and her brood but the human's damage they had done was already being exploited. The Overmind had been enslaved by the devices the earthlings had brought, now under control of the humans, the zerg swarm was being turn against it's self. The humans were confidant they could control the Overmind, but already, in a corner of its mind, it had regained control. Not enough to smash the bounds that had it enslaved but enough for a change of genes here, a mutation of DNA there. The humans had no idea what was coming.  
  
---- Overmind Control Center ----  
  
Word had reached Commander Darius that the UED fleet had been hunted down and destroyed. His Admiral was dead and now, he and his small force here were all that was left of the once mighty UED task force. This was dark news indeed.  
A knock came at Darius's door and a Scout entered the room, exchanging a quick salute the scout spoke, "Commander, word from the Protoss says that Kerrigan has begun her advance to our position. She wants the Overmind dead so she will have soul control of the Zerg forces. She is controlling the force herself."  
"Then that's what she can't get. Tell the Protoss to attempt to slower her. We'll have a nice Zerg welcoming party by then."  
"Yes Sir"  
The Scout left Dariu's office. Darius walked to his window and looked out across the base, former site of the Overmind's defense, the massive creature sat in the middle of the base. The Overmind had powerful Psi Towers built on its massive body, they controlled this once power beast and twisted it to the will of its new Terran masters. To the west of the Overmind Control Center sat a massive Zerg swarm, crawling with the insidious creatures, the base had more then enough Hives to build a large Zerg army in short time. The Mineral requirements of this Zerg base were staggering; because of this the full capabilities of this base were hardly used. The Terrans had amassed a large Mineral and Vespene stockpile to use, should the Hives ever be needed. Now they were.  
  
---- Protoss Fleet under command of Praetor Talra ----  
  
The Praetor was standing on the command deck of his Modified Carrier the Gantrithor II when he got the news.  
"WHAT? They expect us, a fleet of the Protoss, to act as a diversion to Kerrigan? We are above that sort of thing."  
The low-rank Protoss, who had delivered the message, shifted nervously, "That is what they said sir. They explained they will have a trap waiting for her when she gets to their position."  
"I knew we should have taken the enslaved Overmind for the Protoss Empire but the council wouldn't listen, bah, instead of listen they banished me. We had the resources to use the Zerg to their full potential, but the council wouldn't listen. Now all I have is my loyal officers and friends and their ship. Still we are a mighty force and the UED did come to me and not the Empire. I am their ally now and I value honor, so we will delay Kerrigan," Talra dismissed the underling and stood from his chair. He strode to the helm, "Prepare to enter hyperspace. Put us in Kerrigan's next jump point. She will fear my wrath when this is done."  
Talra's fleet entered hyperspace and headed for Kerrigan. This fleet was not what she would expect. The modifications the praetor had ordered were of a powerful nature.  
  
---- Kerrigan's Brood ----  
  
Kerrigan meditated inside the warm juices of the Overlord she was in. They would be coming out of hyperspace soon over the jungle world of Krashek. Not much was on this world but it was rich with natural life, with enough evolutionary mutation, many of these species could become formidable weapons of the Zerg.  
Kerrigan's meditation was disturbed by a shudder in the conscious of her brood. She recognized a faint feeling but it was weak and distant, yet so vivid. She focused her mind on it and was startled by what she found. The Overmind was fighting its restraints, but it only had a small victory. What was it doing, was the foremost question on Kerrigan's mind. She probed the Overmind's thoughts, but it was too weak to be readable.  
Kerrigan's mind was startled by this turn of events, she knew she had to kill the beast before it could rear it ugly head once more. She had little time left to do her job and all the power she had amassed, rested on whether or not she could kill the Overmind.  
The Overlord groaned out a warning, the swarm was about to exit hyperspace. Kerrigan readied herself, she must lead her brood to victory and then she could set her sites to the distant threat of Earth.  
  
---- Overmind Control Center ----  
  
The Overmind fought the Psi towers controlling it; he needed to briefly break the bonds. He knew what he must do and he would not fail. These over confident Terrans thought their hold was perfect but they could never stop the swarm. He battered his entire mind against the powerful Psi energies that were controlling him. He felt the control slip a bit. It was enough.  
Swirling in the evolutionary juices of the egg, a Hydralisk was slowly mutating into a dreaded Lurker. The primitive mind of the beast felt something odd, his master was different now. Something had changed but he didn't care, he lived only to serve. He felt something change in his Biochemistry. His DNA was altered and he was sent hurtling up the Evolutionary chain, far faster then it should. He felt his mind being distanced from his master and a new mind opening to him.  
The Overmind was not expecting the Terrans to notice his brief defiance, but a lone Ghost had. Armed with a Psionic Emitter the Ghost fought the Overmind. The Overmind had been weakened by its fight with the Psi towers and was too weakened to put up much of a fight, but fight he must, he couldn't stop at this sensitive moment. He threw all of his Psi energies at the Ghost and nearly knocked him out, but this ghost was strong and the Psi emitter strengthened him to a level able to change the weakened Overmind. They fought for what seemed like ages. The Ghost felt something at the edge of his awareness; something was watching him, something close.  
The Ghost redirected his energies towards this new presence. He was startled by the simple mind of a Zerg. He had only probed a Zerg once before and never had he felt this. This Zerg was developing a mind of its own and shedding the command of its master. Now its mind was focused on him. The mind of this creature attacked the Ghost with startling swiftness. The Ghost instantly lost control, his mind was melding with this new mind and the two became one. The ingenuity of a human and the mind of a zerg were merged as one, the Human sense of right and wrong was disposed of and replace by a new set of values, spread and destroy all who oppose. The Ghost was no more, he was merely an extension of this new, superior Zerg, a last ditch effort by the Overmind gone terribly wrong.  
  
---- Protoss Fleet ----  
  
Praetor Talra stood up and marched closer to the view screen, before him was his target. Kerrigan's forces. By now Kerrigan had set up a temporary hive on the planet to try and figure out what the Overmind was up to.  
"Scramble all fighters and move into weapons range." Said Talra, with a confident tone in his voice.  
"Aye sir."  
The Fleet of Exile's fleet surge forward, with a swarm of interceptor's ahead of them. The smaller vessel's rocketed ahead of the larger ships and engaged the zerg. Scouts fired their Anti-matter missiles at Devours, causing large gashes to be torn into their flesh. Corsair's chased groups of enemy units and bathed them with their deadly weapons. The zerg fought back with single minded determination. A swarm of Scourge's flew out of the Zerg swarm and sped towards the Carriers and Warships. The gunners opened up and filled space with deadly energy. The Captains turned their Interceptors on the Scourge's, in an effort to stop them. Although many were stopped many still made it through. The small creatures latched onto the hulls of the Protoss ships. The small creatures ended their lives in explosions that ripped massive holes into the mighty Protoss vessels.  
Three scourges headed to a Carrier to the left of the Gantrithor II, the fowl creatures flew into the Interceptor bays and tore the Carrier apart.  
The communication officer on the Gantrithor II turned to Talra, "Sir we have a communication from Kerrigan."  
Talra's eyes darkened, "Put the -Zerg- on screen." Talra made sure he pronounced the word Zerg with all the malice he could.  
Part of the screen changed to the face of Kerrigan, her once human face, twisted into some foul Zerg creation, "You made a wrong move Praetor and you will regret it. No one opposes the Zerg Swarm and survives."  
"Laughable Kerrigan, I will stop you here." Talra said smugly.  
"Your pitiful fleet in out matched Praetor and don't try to threaten me with reinforcements. I know you've been exiled."  
"How?"  
"That doesn't matter. What matters is I'm giving you a chance to live. Withdraw your forces and I won't crush you." As if to underscore her demand, another warship exploded.  
Talra thought for a moment. He used his hands to convey a message to his weapons officer and then said, "Alright -Zerg-, I'll withdraw my forces. Comm., tell all ships to return to the fleet. You win Kerrigan."  
"I'm glad you saw the light Praetor."  
"One more thing before I leave Kerrigan..."  
"Yes?" There was a pause, and then he spoke  
"Fire."  
The Weapons officer nodded and his hand flew over the control panel. In moments the modifications to the Gantrithor II were brought to bear. Three large, crystal arrays, made from individual diamond shaped pieces placed together, swung out from the carrier and locked into position. Refined from the same material Pylons are made from, these arrays would focus all the Psionic energies of the nearby Protoss into a powerful beam. The focus crystal took up what used to be the Interceptor bays of the Gantrithor II. The massive pillar of crystals moved out of the ship's cavity and locked in position, in front of the ship. The three arrays began to crackle and glow blue. The point of the arrays shown a bright blue and then all three of the arrays connected to the focus point with three blue beams. The center pillar glowed blue, and crackled with the Psionic energy, little blue lighting bolt jumping up and down it. Seconds latter it expelled its fury. A massive Blue-white beam lance out from the Gantrithor II and towards the Zerg swarm. Zerg units were vaporized and warped when the beam hit. The Gantrithor II arced its line of fire gently across the Zerg swarm, killing large amounts of Zerg in an instant. The beam began to wain as it grew dim and then it fizzled out.  
The Protoss fleet turned around and disappeared into hyperspace. On the planet Krashek, Kerrigan let out a scream of rage that echoed across the jungle world. She filled with a blank rage and briefly lost control of her brood, after calming she got control back.  
"I will hunt you down -Protoss- and I will destroy you and all close to you." She looked up at the sky and screamed once more.  
  
---- Overmind Control Center ----  
  
"Odd." mumbled one of the technicians manning the Overmind Control Center.  
"What?" snapped the supervisor.  
"I just noticed a spike in the Overmind's neural activity."  
"Interesting."  
Normally the Overmind's neural activity would have been affected only by the commands of its master, so this spike was unusual. The Overmind was supposed to be under complete control of its Human overlords. The Terrans had mapped out a complex system to know exactly how high the Overmind's neural activity had to rise before it could regain control. In the case that it would reach that level, the Terrans would first transfer all base power into the Psi towers, in an attempt to regain their hold. If that failed they would send out their specially trained Ghost to fight the beast into submission. When that failed the Terrans would detonate their tactical nukes, they had placed around the beast and inside the Zerg base's scattered around Char, to stop the Zerg from over running them. Of course, they would rather not do that, because then they would lack any effective weapon to fight Kerrigan with.  
"It's still above normal but it's not high enough to be a threat. There's no way it can break free."  
"Good, keep monitoring. I'm gonna go check the records and see if this has happened before."  
"Wait," the technician motioned to the supervisor, "It just returned to normal, but not after another spike."  
"I'm going to finish off my checks and then write a report. I'll be back soon." said the supervisor with a perplexed look on his face.  
"Yes sir."  
  
---- Zerg Base west of Overmind ----  
  
Two Goliaths marched their way through the living Zerg base, on patrol.  
"Man I hate this job, I know these bugs are enslaved but I've just got too many bad vibes about them." Complained the first pilot.  
"Oh quit your gripping Jareck." snapped the second Goliath pilot.  
"Don't tell me what to do. I just want to survive this round. Now if mister Tolin wants to make a point of it, he's more then welcome to file a complaint." Retorted Jareck  
"I got your complaint right here..."  
"What the hell is that?"  
The two Goliath's change course from their standard round, and veer towards a large, living, dome of Zerg material. It reminded the two pilots of a large Lurker egg, but this was far too big to be a Lurker.  
"Man, we've got to tell Command." Said Jareck  
The egg began to shudder and from amidst the Zerg Hives, walked a single Ghost. He was carrying his gun loosely at his side. He walked up and put him self between the Goliaths and the egg. His head was hanging and his limbs seemed limp, he appeared to be half asleep.  
"Who the hell are you!?" Questioned Tolin. Both Goliaths had their weapons aimed at this man; no one was supposed to be in the Zerg base.  
The Ghost had his mind altered by the beast maturing in the egg. He now had Psi powers greater then any high templar, yet this came at the price of being the creature's puppet. He reached one limp hand up and opened his hand so his palm was facing the two Goliaths. His head came up in a snap and the air around the two pilots began to shift and wave. Both men were startled and fired their weapons, but the shots were merely thrown off course by distortions. Soon the two steel Goliaths began to crumple. Jareck was first to fall, his Goliath's legs being snapped and his vehicle tumbling to the ground. Tolin managed to squeeze off another shot and this one went toward its target, it ripped through the arm, that was still limp, of the Ghost, then Tolin's Goliath merely compacted and killed him with the force. Jareck heard the screams of his friend and then made his own as his cockpit closed in around him.  
The new Zerg creature looked through the eyes of his puppet at the two crushed heaps of metal and gears lying before him. Using his puppet's amplified mind, he just killed both of the Humans without a shred of feeling. This puppet would be a useful tool indeed, but he would be forced to make its body more, durable. When he had finally matured enough to hatch, he would infuse his puppet with Zerg DNA and make it more useful. The creature paused in its thoughts and wondered briefly about the fate of his former master. The creature realized it didn't really care; he was his own master now with only one thought, spread.  
  
---- The Exile's fleet ----  
  
"Praetor, we will be exiting hyperspace soon. Above Char, and the Terrans base, as ordered." Reported Talra's first officer. The officer was a competent officer he went by the name, Rasslen.  
"Thank you Rasslen. I'm sure the Terrans will be pleased with our work." Talra stood up in his charge and walked towards the view screen, his fleet had taken a hard hit but it was still a force to be feared, especially with their Psi Array. The Terrans had not seen the Array at work, nor did they even know it existed and that would not change anytime soon. The Psi Array was one of the Protoss' highly guarded secrets, the product of years of research and meditation, it was the most powerful weapon the Protoss had ever made and only three Psi Arrays existed and Praetor Talra was lucky enough to have been in command of one ship with it when he had been exiled.  
The Praetor's spirits flew with the after glow of the blow he struck to Kerrigan. Oh she would seek revenge and Talra would be ready for her. His fleet was still mighty and if she decided to attack him, he would fight her to the death...  
The ships blasted out of hyperspace and the dark shape of Char loomed ahead. The dark planet now under the command of the humans, it had three or four Battle cruisers in orbit, over the terran base.  
"Incoming message from the planet."  
"Put it on."  
The screen was replaced by the face of Commander Darius. He looked oddly agitated.  
"I hope you brought me good news Praetor." said Darius impatiently.  
"Watch your tone Terran," Talra shot him a venomous look, "Kerrigan will be, shall we say, delayed getting here. We took out most of her forces and she will have to regain her strength."  
Darius's face seemed to lighten at this news, "That is good work. I thank you Talra for your help in this matter. We should be more then ready by the time she gets here. Our Hives are in full production," Talra shivered at the thought, "and we should have a formidable Zerg air force when she comes. Which brings me to a question, would you like to take part in the battle?"  
Although repulsed be the Idea of fighting alone side Zerg forces, Talra yearned for a battle. "Yes, my forces will be here to fight along side our Terran allies."  
Darius nodded and cut the transmission.  
"Tell the fleet to ready of battle." Said Talra.  
  
---- Zerg Base west of Overmind. ----  
  
The creature had begun to explore his surroundings using his puppet and noticed a lot of activity around him. The Humans were busy with their Zerg toys and making plenty of them. As he explored the Creature noticed he was far superior to any of the Zerg units, he was far greater. He chose a name for himself "Superior One", a odd name in any language, yet fitting in every sense.  
He was almost ready to hatch now, so he moved his puppet back to where he matured. He noticed his puppet was getting weaker and would probably die if that wound didn't heal, he must make his changes to the human's body soon.  
The Superior one stirred inside its bloated egg. It had become cramped in here and he was ready for the outside world. Already smarter then any of his brethren, thanks to the stolen knowledge of his human puppet, he would rise to greatness. The egg stretched and weakened. A large gash formed in the egg, causing the juices to flow out onto the ground. With this breath of the ash rich air of Char, the Superior One exploded from his prison, leaving a puddle of flesh and slime. Ahh, he was free and ready to go.  
The Beast was as large as a Terran command center and a lot meaner. Standing on eight, wicked, lurker style legs with the front two separated and positioned perfectly for digging, the beast had some aspects of its lurker origins. From around the side four tendrils failed in the air, the tendrils could stretch to amazing lengths and grasp on, iron hard, to objects the beast wanted. The tendrils could also be whipped across targets and act like an amazingly sharp blade. The head of the creature was like a Lurker only it had more edges on it and was jagged all around the normally smooth edges. Hidden inside the head armor, was Hydralisk, like, acid glands, far more powerful then its counter part. Hideous jaws waited to chomp and crush anything that got close enough to them. The creature was covered in horns and spikes along it armored body, armor thick enough to stop almost anything that tried to stop it.  
The creature stretched to its full height, which was nearly the height of the nearby Hive, and let out a screech that was heard clearly in the Terran base. Superior One then went down to the ground and began to tear away at the ground with its powerful front leg's. Stopping for a moment the Superior one turned to his puppet and used his mind to move him next to a lowered tendril. The puppet obeyed and soon the tendril had engulfed him and had him in the Superior One's body, where he was being altered by the beast's systems. Soon his puppet would be more useful. The Superior One returned to it's digging, with his puppet safe inside of him. 


	2. Superior One

---- Wraith Patrol Alpha Wing ----  
  
"This is Alpha 3 to Alpha Leader. Do you see that down in the Zerg Base?"  
"I see it Alpha 3, let's go in for a closer look. Alpha 9, radio command and tell them of the situation."  
"I Copy lead."  
Alpha Wing consisted of twelve Wraiths, whose job was keeping an eye on the Zerg base. This run was a little different than usual.  
As the Squadron wheeled around for another run they saw a startling sight. Before their eyes a massive creature was boring a hole in the ground, at a startling rate. As the Squadron approached, the beast stopped and turned towards them. The Squad was confused at first, after all the swarm here should be under Terran control.  
"Alpha 9 here. I just got word from the base, they don't know what it is but they do say they heard a strange noise, not too long ago. They advise caution."  
One of the Squad members uttered a curse over the comm.  
The Superior One looked at the Wraiths circling above him and wondered if they would attack or not. Little matter, they were a threat. The Superior One turned around and brought his bulk to face the squadron. From his back his four tendrils whipped out and slashed the wraiths. The first was cut right in two, with the pilot on the cut line. The doomed Wraith flew apart and hurtled to the ground, the pilot already dead. The rest of the Squad began to veer off but the Superior One managed to catch one of the rear Wraiths with a blow, severing the hind section. The whip cut right through the ammo magazine on another and the Wraith exploded, sending debris into his companions. A fourth ship took the wing of his fallen companion, right in the cockpit. The wounded craft lurched and went down to the planet below. The ships finally managed to turn around and charge the creature. With lasers blazing they made a run at the beast. The bursts of energy slammed into the Superior One, but did nothing. Leaving only scorch marks on the creature's thick shell, the lasers did nothing to harm him. The Superior One was angered by the Humans attack and lashed out at them once more, only this time with its acid glands. The acid covered spines shot out from the beast's head and flew to their targets. One imbedded itself in the fuel tanks on the lead Wraith, the acid burned into the tank and caused the fuel around it to heat and explode. The lead wraith was engulfed in flames; the pilot's screams were covering the comm., nothing but loud noise and a few screams that made sense "O-...-Y GOD!!!...-ELP!!!!!...-S-...-MBODY-...-F-...-CKING HELP MEEEE!!!!!!- ....AHHHHHHH-...." And just as soon as it started, it ended as the Wraith came hurtling into the ground, the ship exploding, killing a few nearby Zerglings that were minding their own business. The other targets had holes burned through them and caused small parts to come off, crippling them beyond combat ability. The squadron knew they were beaten and headed back to base at full speed. The Superior One saw them turn and run, he raised his head high and let out a screech in triumph.  
  
---- Exile's Fleet ----  
  
"Praetor," called the communication's officer, "I've gotten some disturbing comm. chatter."  
"Play it."  
The sounds of frightened pilot filled the command deck. The man was terrified and his voice was cracking, "Command, this is Alpha 9. We were attacked by... by... a massive creature... oh help us... it was huge... help us please, send help. Five men down, oh you've gotta help them. The thing was impervious to our lasers... we need help, our ships are crippled... my leg... it...it... has a hole clear through it. I'm losing blood fast... Help us please." The soothing voice of a woman began to calm the pilot and the comm. officer flicked off the comm.  
"This is disturbing," the Praetor thought for a moment, "Get me the Terran commander."  
"Aye sir."  
  
---- Overlord Command Center ----  
  
Darius was at his desk, over viewing the report on the two missing Goliaths. They had been an hour late on their return so Darius had sent Alpha wing over their normal patrol run to see if they could spot them. He was currently waiting for Alpha Wing to return.  
His thoughts were disturbed when his computer chimed; an incoming message from the Spaceport, "Sir, whatever is left of Alpha Wing has returned." said the officer at the spaceport.  
"And?" inquired Darius.  
"They were attacked. They lost five men and the two are seriously injured, the damaged to the crafts we got back looks like Hydralisk damage only worse."  
"But all the Zerg are under our control."  
"What they described looks Zerg but it's nothing ever encountered before. Were currently going over their sensors and visual scanners. We should have a report soon."  
"Good, keep me posted." Darius reached over to his console and turned off the comm. connection, as soon as he did the incoming message toned again. This time the screen was filled with the face of Praetor Talra.  
"Commander Darius. Are you having some troubles?"  
Darius hesitated with his answer, "I think we have everything under control."  
"From what I've heard, your troubles are anything but under control."  
"Where did you here that?"  
"I have my ways."  
Darius thought about the possibility of a spy, "Really? I would like to learn of those ways sometime."  
"Maybe at a later date Commander. I would like to remind you of our superior technology. We could detect anything you may want a good look at; all you need to do is ask."  
"My officers are working on it. I think we'll be fine."  
"Very well Terran. We will discuss the terms of our friendship after Kerrigan has been dealt with. Talra Out." The Praetor walked back to his chair, arrogant fools, he thought.  
  
---- Kerrigan's swarm ----  
  
It had taken Kerrigan longer then she would have hoped to get here swarm back to full strength, but she had done it. Her swarm was now on its way to the Terrans base. Her temporary delay at the hands of Praetor Talra had cost her the element of surprise but she was Zerg, and the Zerg aren't stopped easily.  
Kerrigan meditated in one of her Overlords and pondered over the brief presence of the Overmind. It had shaken her, that the Overmind had been able to fight off it's restraints at that time. She needed to know what he was doing. She was replaying that memory over and over in her mind, trying to find something that could answer her questions. She could find no answers.  
The Overlord shuddered as the Swarm came out of hyperspace. As she used the vision of her minions she noticed the Protoss were here. Oh this would be most enjoyable indeed, not only would she crush the Humans but she would punish the foolish Praetor. On this day much blood would be spilled indeed.  
  
---- Zerg Base west of Overmind ----  
  
The Superior One had burrowed deep, far deeper then any other zerg could. Under the surface of Char the superior one began to tunnel. Using advance sense to detect vibrations on the surface, the creature was able to know his way underground. Using this knowledge he made his way to the Humans Command center. He knew the Humans would try to stop his expansion and needed to be dealt with before he could create more of himself and thus they need to be dealt with.  
He stopped in his underground journey, as he realized he was where he wanted to be. He began to move in the tunnel and in moments, was on his way up to the surface.  
  
---- Overmind Control Center ----  
  
Janitor Jonathan Ross was on his rounds this night. He swept down the quiet halls of the Command Center, wondering why it was so damn quiet. He wanted to get off this rock so bad but anyone he knew, who could help him, had been in the UED fleet when it was destroyed so he was, more or less, stuck here, doomed to his job as a janitor.  
He stopped and rested his chin on his broom handle, oh what he would give to get of this bloody rock and go back to earth. At that moment his thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble outside the building. His expression changed from boredom to puzzlement and he strained his ears to the sound. He was startled as the rumble was replaced by a shatteringly loud roar. His broom fell away as he reached up to shield his ears. The roar slowly died off and was replaced with the sound of gunfire and explosions.  
Jonathan was blown off his feet by a falling support beam, as the opposing wall split open. His head spinning, the janitor tried to focus his vision. His vision began to clear and staring at him was a hideous Zerg head. There was a noise of tearing metal as more of the building was torn away as the creature locked on with its jaws and ripped out the chunk. The janitor could now see the creature clearly and it chilled him to the bone as the yellow eyes turned to face him. The eyes focused and burned brightly with a hunger to destroy. Letting out a high pitch screech the creature charged forward, jamming its head into the Command Center. Jonathan pressed himself against the wall in terror as the creature began snapping with its jaws. It ripped at the frightened man and caught his leg on one of its jaws. The razor sharp teeth dug into his left leg and cut deep till it hit bone. The man screamed in agony and looked down to see his leg with the vicious jaws dug into him. The creature pulled its head out of the Command Center, with the terrified man attached to its jaw. Tilting its head back the creature shook its head in an effort to get the human dislodged. The sharp shaking motions caused the sharp teeth to tear away at Jonathan's leg, mangling it beyond recognition. Blood poured from the mangled leg and down into the creatures open mouth. Tasting the blood the creature went into a renewed frenzy and finally dislodged the janitor. He fell helplessly into the waiting mouth and let out a scream as the jaws closed around him and began to rip into his flesh. In moments his screams were silenced as the Superior one finished its snack.  
The Superior one was still in frenzy and kept on beating the Command Center, using its massive front digging claws to rip away chunks of the building. Gas lines were ruptured causing the opposing side of the building to be torn upon by a fist of flames. The base defenses had opened up on the massive creature with everything they could. They had Wraiths attacking it from the air, Goliaths unloading thousands upon thousands of cannon rounds, Marines had taken up positions in Bunkers and around nearby buildings in a effort to keep the beast from destroying anymore of the base. Three Siege Tanks had been recalled and had deployed on a ridge overlooking the base. Writing off the Command Center as a lost cause the three tanks opened up on the creature with their Artilic Shock cannons. The shells ripped through the air and slammed into the beast, turning part of the Command Center into an inferno, with the beast inside of that inferno. The force knocked the beast to the ground, making its leg's buckle, but when the fire and smoke clear it stood up once more. Moving with frightening speed, it ran by all the defenders, straight to the ridge. Once there it used its claws to punch holes in the rock face and crawl up the cliff. It came over the top of the ridge and to the Siege Tanks, which were trying to un -deploy and get out of there are fast as they could. It stuck its right digging claw down hard; the claw went right through the tank, pierced the magazine and caused the tank to explode, over the Comm., there was a sudden scream, and then halted just as soon as it started. The second tank was caught by the Superior One's jaws. The beast bit into the tank, hard and crushed the back end of the tank, into a gnarled and twisted mass of metal, screams were coming on the comm. again, yells of pain and fear, the sound of flames leaping about and scorching the men inside. The third tank had begun to retreat, when one of the whip like tendrils of the beast cut across it, severing its cannon. The tank still fled from its aggressor but was not fast enough as the second swipe of the tendril made a downward gab into the tank, killing the driver in a instant. The tank skidded to a stop, the hatches burst open and the engineers came running out, half of them leaving a trail of yellow liquid behind them. Satisfied at its work the Superior One let out a roar that shook the ground and hearts of the base area.  
The Superior One turned back to the base, its Command Center now a pile of twisted, burning metal, and he saw there was much resistance left. Perfect. He had been evolving his puppet even more and now his little Human toy was more deadly then before, he had given it a mind. His puppet was still fiercely loyal to him and under his iron control but now it could make decisions as to how he could best serve his master.  
The Superior One clawed its way back down the cliff and to the Terran resistance. He charged into the base with one of his tendrils already bringing his new puppet out into the world. He hit the Marine filled Bunker, with deadly force. Using his jaws, he gripped onto the roof of the bunker and ripped the top off with no trouble. He thrust his head into the hole and caught one of the fighting men between his razor teeth. Pulling his head out and biting hard the beast dug into the man, cracking through the armor and into his flesh. The man let out a scream of agony and let his rifle fall. It was caught by the puppet. The terrible demon looked up at him and the Marine got a look at the twisted Ghost before his spine was severed and his world was thrust into darkness.  
The puppet's hands had been turned into razor sharp claws, barely able to hold the rifle. His claws could be used to slash open his prey or merely crush it with brute force. His body had been covered by a exoskeleton that seemed like his ribs had simply broken through his flesh, but they weren't the bones of a human anymore. They had a segmented look, like each part slid tightly into the other. The bones were a raw, red color. His spine segments now stuck out of his skin like the teeth of a saw blade. From his shoulder blades came two large, skeletal like wings, with sharp tips at the ends. A hit with one of them could knock you off your feet.  
The Superior One finished off his snack and set a quick command to his puppet, allowing him to do what he wished, and then the Superior One turned to the remaining marines in the Bunker, still oblivious to the hundreds of rounds being unloaded upon him, and merely flickering off. One of his tendrils came forward and shot through the hole. It sped towards one of the defenders and broke through his armor with almost no resistance. It penetrated his skin and the force lifted the screaming Marine off his feet, his gun still shooting wildly, hitting the armor of a few of the other men, he was knocked into one of his companions. The tendril continued its journey and pierced his right lung, the man tried crying out in pain but all that came out was a ragged scream, as he spat up blood. The deadly attack carried through the man and ripped though his back and into the other Marine, who was still dazed at the collision with his friend. He felt a sharp pain in his side as the tendril penetrated, just below the rip cage. It flew through the stomach and out the other side. The attack lasted mere seconds until the Superior One pulled his tendril back out, leaving the two men to bleed themselves to death in agony. The mighty beast looked around but the fourth marine was gone. The Superior One didn't care much and deiced to go and kill more.  
The last Marine hid behind a nearby anti-air Turret, its operator had fled in terror. This Marine would kill -something- for the death of his friends and he knew exactly what. The massive Zerg creature was too powerful for him to take on his own but his little friend was a different story. The Marine peered around the turret and saw the mutated Ghost walking on a path to a Bunker, to empty it out. The Marine pulled his head back in and closed his eyes, thinking of any last regrets, he decided to charge. As he turned to face his opponent, he stopped dead with a horrible pain shooting through him. He looked down to see a bloodied claw sticking out of his stomach, with a little of his own entrails between them. He stifled a cry as the claw slid back out of his body. He could only feel the pain, his rage had left him. He fell onto his knees and then twisted into a curled position on the ground where he slowly tainted the ground red.  
The puppet had enjoyed that. The Human had stood no chance; he had sensed his intentions with his heightened mind. He had waited until the man wasn't looking and then he had used his powerful legs to propel him to the turret. Landing with catlike agility, he had made no noise. He then moved himself behind the Marine and with one quick thrust had ended his pitiful existence. The battles continued for a few more minutes, the screams of terrified Marines filling the air, sounds of gunfire here and there, night was falling, backup lights were turning on, since half the originals were obliterated by the Superior One's movement, since this was now a full out war in the base, everything the Terrans had was being sent out to the huge mass of Zerg creation, including the Zerg themselves, as the huge mixed swarm of Terrans and Zerg marched towards the Superior One, the Zerg units got a bit too eager, and started to maul down the Terrans to get at this new creature, everywhere, Marines, Medics and Firebats were falling to the ground, either dying from being trampled or being severely wounded, meanwhile the Goliaths just stomped onto the Zerg if they got in the way, Siege Tanks ran over others as they too were being ran over by Zerglings and Hydralisks, the occasional Vulture would veer off course after being hit by a Zerg unit, is other words, utter chaos was on a collision course for the Superior One. After a few moments of munching on bodies of the fallen, the massive beast lifted its head after being called by its puppet, who noticed the mass, he growled as he planted himself onto the ground, and readied for them, the swarm of Zerg, who conveniently left the Terran force behind to re-arrange themselves, had hit into the Superior One with everything, the first hit coming from an Ultralisk, smashing into the side of the much larger Superior One, it merely bounced off and fell over onto a few Zerglings, and then the rest poured out all they had onto the creature, acid spines, claws, spores, teeth, everything from Zerglings to Mutalisks, piling huge amounts of damage onto the creature, although the Superior One had a good chance, it knew that it wouldn't survive this battle, with opponents crawling over each other just for a hit, so he ordered his puppet, who conveniently was attacking the masses, to retreat into the hole in which they came, instantly, the Ghost did so and ran off, jumping into the huge hole, and vanishing, after a few moments, the Superior One let out a cry as he was hit in a soft spot, he turned, knocking over a few units, and dived into the hole, he turned again, while inside the hole, and reached up, scraping whatever was left of the Command Center, overtop of him, so that he could not be pursued. 


	3. Twist of luck

----- In orbit over Char ----  
  
The Praetor stood up from his command chair and stared at view screen. Kerrigan had finally arrived. He knew she would come but he was hoping he had delayed them a little longer then that. He turned to his comm. Officer and told him to contact the three terran Battle Cruisers, but at that moment he saw the terran ships pull back and head to the planet.  
"What do the Terran's think they are doing? We need their help now more then ever." Inquired the Praetor irritably.  
"The Captain in charge of the Terran spaceforce says there has been a development on the planet and they have been recalled." Reported the Comm. officer.  
"Well ask them what's more important. Kerrigan's Brood or what ever may be down there?"  
"They seem to think it's far more important then anything the brood can throw at us."  
"The Terrans may be making a mistake and we will make sure they remember it when this is done... Charge all weapons, prep the fighters and prepare the Array."  
"Aye sir."  
The exiles Carriers began to unload their swarms of interceptor's and the scouts began to array themselves in defense positions around the larger vessels.  
Kerrigan was fast on the up take. She had her scourges on the move in a near instant, the small, deadly creatures flying to their targets with a single minded determination. The robotic interceptors flew into the swarm and unleashed their cannons onto the small zerg flyers. Many of the simple minded scourges saw these interceptors as a new threat and slammed into them instead, ending their existence in a flare of blood and fire.  
When the explosions had stopped, the swarm still pressed on. The cloud of scourges flew into the Protoss fleet. The carriers were franticly trying to build more interceptors while the other ships engaged the scourges. A small pack of the deadly creatures headed for Talra's flagship, the Gantrithor II. The pack was about to make their attack when they stopped dead in their tracks, incased in a stasis field. The nearby arbiter was then ripped to shreds by a swarm it had missed. With the cloaking field gone, a force of unseen carriers was made vulnerable.  
At this point the scourges had been mostly dealt with, but the large creatures had now reached the fleet. The Guardians were slow moving but now in range, and with no gravity to pull their shots down they made very effective space weapons. The massive bug like creatures began to spit their acid globs into the fleet. An unsuspecting scout was hit with one right in the cockpit, having been weakened by a scourge, the scout had no chance of survival. The acid burned through the scout and ignited the anti- matter missiles. The scout was turned into a miniature star, for the whole fleet to see.  
When the blaze had cleared the Praetor was barely able to keep his anger in check. He turned to face the High Templar on the bridge when a Guardian fired at his ship, the resulting impact knocked the praetor off his feet. Heaving back to his feet he said, "Find the overlord carrying Kerrigan."  
The Templar merely nodded and began to concentrate. He became momentarily strained as something tried to invade his awareness, but he had managed to block the presence from his mind. He refocused his efforts and the turned to, "Talra, my lord, I have found the zerg mistress," The templar glided over to the Weapons counsel and began to pinpoint the overlord, "She resides in this Overlord."  
"Good, you have done well."  
"One more thing. I sensed a very powerful presence while I was searching, I suggest we proceed with caution."  
"Noted. Prepare to fire the Psi Array."  
The weapons officer began his work and soon the massive crystal wings were locked in firing position. The large crystal wings began to crackle with psionic energy. The Templar could feel the power crackling around him and his power rushing to join the others of the fleet. To someone as intoned with their psionic power, it was a peculiar sensation. The central focusing crystal began to slide out of the modified carrier bay and locked into position. The arrays, now at full power, transferred all of their energy into the focusing crystal and soon the massive weapon was ready to fire.  
The Gantrithor II turned slightly to face Kerrigan's Overlord. With the creature dead in his sights, Talra gave the order to fire. The beam of energy cut through space and streaked towards the overload. Sensing the trouble, Kerrigan had incased herself with a cocoon from the Overlord, one that would allow her to survive the Vacuum of space. The Overlord then pushed here out into space just as the creature was hit by the powerful beam. Kerrigan could feel the psionic energy as the beam passed close to her cocoon, it filled her with extreme pain. The doomed Overlord looked at the on coming beam and let out a low groan seconds before it ripped through the beast.  
The beam lasted only for seconds, but in the few seconds it had been enough to kill the overlord and a large number of zerg. Unfortunately, for the exiles, the swarm still ravaged onward.  
"Why are they still attacking us? They should be destroying their selves!" the Praetor was mad, victory was so close but so far away.  
The templar turned to the Praetor, "She's still out there. She has avoided our blow."  
"Take us into the planets atmosphere. That should take care of the guardians, and then we only need be concerned with the Mutalisks and Devourers.  
Most of the carriers peeled off and headed down to Char while a few of the warships stayed back as a vanguard, they would fall back when the others were safe.  
  
--- Over mind Controll Center ---  
  
Darius stood in his combat armour and surveyed the wreckage. This would be a major set back, this kind of destruction didn't occur every day, and worst of all, the beast was still out there. They needed to begin repairs immediately, but the Space force commander had informed them that Kerrigan had arrived.  
A Technician ran up to Darius and spoke, "Sir, we may be able to bring the wrecked Command center's thrusters online. We could move it but then it will blow out the fuel packs and that thing wouldn't be good for anything, but scrap metal."  
"Well The beast was weakened; maybe we could kill it now. Alright, get ready to do it."  
With that the technician turned and walked towards a group of other technicians. After they talked for some time, they dispersed and reassembled near the wrecked command center, with a contingent of marines.  
"Alright," the technician pointed to a marine, "Your gonna go in and we'll keep in touch with you from out here and tell you what to do."  
"Why the hell am I going?"  
"Cause you're the only on here who actually has some experience with Command center systems, other then us, but were too vulnerable. You can take some others with you"  
The marine looked about and point at some marines who were just standing around drinking, "You guys, your coming with me."  
"Aww Damn Sarge, get someone else to go with you."  
"Shut yer trap or I'll have you lynched for mutiny."  
The marine decided against arguing anymore and the two marines headed for the wrecked Command center. Darius watched them from a distance and the two troopers forced the door open and disappeared from site.  
Inside the ruined building the marines made there way carefully to the top level. The picked there way carefully between the debris and on there way they came across an odd red stain on the wall. The Sarge stopped and looked at it closer to find broom hidden under a collapsed support beam. The men stood up and looked out of the command center through a massive gouge in the wall. He looked down and found a piece of wood sticking out from the debris. Curious, he reached down and pulled it out of the wreckage and discovered a slightly splintered, broom. He held it in his hand and pondered about it for a moment. He then tossed it aside and went on to the control center.  
He reached it and found it in only marginally better condition then the rest of the facility. He walked to one of the panel a brushed aside some of the rubble on it. He looked at it for a moment and then found the activation button.  
After it had powered up and he had hit it twice for trying to shut off again, it was running as well as it could on back up power. He clicked the comm. switch in his suit and contacted the technicians outside.  
"Alright, so I'm here. Now what?" he asked  
"Provided there isn't an excessive amount of damage to the network, it should provide us with the required amount of system access to fire the thrusters. So at the moment it's a simple matter of bypassing any corrupt pathways and we'll have this thing moving."  
The marine blinked and then shock his head, damn tech's always looking for the hard way, he thought. He swept off more of the panel and found a button behind glass door. It was the emergency lift off button. He smashed the glass and pressed the button.  
The technicians looked up to see the thrusters fire and the command center slowly climb up. One of the thrusters exploded into a fire ball, and the command center lurched to the left, yet still with enough power to keep moving. It moved slowly away from the hole, with more fires breaking out across the building. It gave one more heave, sending it away from the hole and sending it smashing to the ground to the left of it.  
A lone voice came from on the comm., the voice of the marine, "Woo Hoo, what a ride. I'll be coming out now, before this thing burns itself to the ground."  
The technicians looked at each other and then let a smile cross their faces. Sometimes the simple ways were best.  
Around them the Terran forces began to set up around the hole, and a small squad of ghost's were running to the edge of the hole with cords and special equipment. Darius walked up to the squad leader and said, "Go on down boys, and find that critter."  
  
--- In the Atmosphere of Char ---  
  
The Protoss were running, and that pleased Kerrigan greatly. She had wanted to punish that arrogant fool, Talra, for the humiliation he had dealt her at Krashek. Now she had the joy of watching the Protoss flee from her, but she knew her work was not done, she would not be happy until she had reclaimed home world of the zerg and sent the Praetor to his grave. She began to make her move and ordered her forces into the planet's Atmosphere. She made sure her guardians stayed above the protoss fleet, so they could still take shots at them, by trying to hit moving targets with big acid globs. The rest of her forces rushed down and came upon the protoss fleet from above.  
The first few zerg creatures were ripped to shreds from weapons fire from protoss scouts that had come up to meet them. The scouts kept on going right into the swarm, weapons firing. The next wave of zerg, came in with a lot more creatures, far too many for that wing of scouts to take down.  
The zerg ripped into the wing with fury that was common to the swarm. One scout was hit in the engines and lost control, but it was also very close to the zerg flyers, so it slammed into a devour and both the zerg and the protoss died in massive eruption of fire and blood. Soon the other scouts in the squadron met similar fates and the zerg swarm was able to approach the main protoss fleet, from above.  
They fell upon the praetor's fleet with mindless determination. The first zerg creatures were met with pin point blasts from the protoss gunners, ripping into their bodies and sending them hurtling to the ash world bellow. The gunner tried to fire at the second group but they were too quick and easily avoided the fire from the injured Protoss ships. Soon they had closed the gap and began to wreck their havoc on Talra's ships  
The Gantrithor II was largely overlooked at first but Kerrigan want revenge and she would not allow the Praetor to escape this time. She dug into her memories of their last engagements and she rembered what his command ship looked like and what it was capable of. She needed to bring that craft down, before it got a chance to use its array another time. She used the eyes of her minions and gazed at the Exile's fleet from many different angles, then, through the eyes of a scourge she saw it running towards one of the last remaining Arbiters. She looked upon the Praetors ship, watched as he tried to hid from here, she felt overwhelming pride at this turn of events, but then her scourge ended it's life and gutted the interceptor bay of a carrier, but she had seen enough.  
Now that she knew where her prey was she changed her tactics, and the zerg swarm began to cut a wedge into the Protoss fleet, working its way to the Praetors ship with only one though etched on their mind; destroy that ship. Ship after ship in the Exile's fleet exploded, succumbing to the fury of the swarm, and they still kept coming. Kerrigan could feel victory within her grasp, but then she faltered, she felt a physic presence on Char. A powerful one, more powerful then her or the strongest Protoss warriors she had ever fought. But despite this she also could feel that it was Zerg, and it was under no ones control. No overmind, no Terran trickery, no Protoss, it was its own master, and that was a dangerous thing. She pondered on this; the last time a zerg had been under its own control, she had claimed power. She could not afford something else trying to strip the swarm from her, she knew that she needed to destroy it but at the moment she couldn't, for the Protoss were still alive.  
  
--- Exile's Fleet ---  
  
"Praetor, I am... sensing...something strange." The High templar reported slowly.  
The Praetor was about ready to snap at the next who spoke, because of this battle, but the templar had never failed him yet, "Speak." He replied  
"There is a Zerg presence out there," the Praetor nearly screamed at him due to his blatantly obvious observation but the templar raised his hand to stop him, "It's not under Kerrigan's control. I think it is too powerful ever be under her control even if she wanted it."  
The Praetor fleet his anger vanish to be replaced by more of a curious fear, he turned to his first officer, Rasslen, and he took over command of the battle of the time being. "The Overmind perhaps?" asked Talra.  
"No sir. It is the presence I sense before. It is Zerg, I can tell that from its mind, but it is its own master, not a slave. I need not remind you, My Lord, what happened the last time a Zerg became its own Master."  
"No, you need not," Talra understood greatly what the Templar meant, for he was currently battling the meaning, "I want you too find me the source of this," he was interrupted by explosion in the ship, "Once you have it, let me know and we will try and kill it. Now we must go back to surviving."  
"On that topic, I have an Idea." The Templar sounded mischievous, which the praetor thought, looked odd for some one so powerful.  
  
--- In the Atmosphere of Char ---  
  
Kerrigan was taken by surprise as the shape of the Gantrithor II shimmered and twisted, and then it became normal once more except for one thing. There were three. She knew what had happened, for she had fought the Protoss many times before, but even as she watched other ships moved and shuffled, blocking her view of the real one. As they did this, more phantom ships appeared and shuffled, obscuring her goal even more. Suddenly a fresh wave of Protoss scout's flew out of the Exiles fleet and came bearing down on here nearest overlords, taking out the eyes of the swarm. She could feel her victory slowly slipping by, but she would not accept it, not yet.  
The Swarm began to target only the phantom ships and none of the other ships in the fleet. One by one hallucination erupted into blue clouds, while the real Protoss ships ripped into the swarm. But the Protoss couldn't win this way, because the swarm would soon reach the real ship and with their flag ship gone the swarm would then destroy them, but they had a plan. The minds of the Templars in the fleet began to move their phantoms and soon the Gantrithor II was revealed, pointing straight at Kerrigan with its array fully charged.  
Kerrigan looked at it and for the first time in her existence, true terror overtook her emotions. She stared at the Praetors ship and could almost feel his arrogant mind laughing at her. No! Not now! She couldn't lose, not now, not when she had come so far. But there was nothing she could do. She watched as the blue-white lance burned a path through the air and hit her overlord. Then her world was plunged into darkness. 


	4. Hunter to Hunted

--- Below the Ruins of the OCC ---  
  
"Crap its dark down here." Muttered one of the marines  
"You have a light on your gun." Said a ghost, coldly  
The marine shot a sour glance at the ghost and waved his gun menacingly, "Yah and I'm about to put yours out."  
Both men glared at each other for a moment longer but then Commander Darius spoke up, "Now's not the time, when we get back you can have a brawl but not now. Understand?"  
"Aye sir." Both said in unison.  
The squad members continued on down the large cavern that was the only evidence of the Superior One's moment under the base. The passage was massive, more then large enough they could drive a siege tank through it, which made some of the squaddies want one down there with them, but unfortunately for them, the creatures attack had thrown the base into such disarray, it would take a while before they even found a siege tank that could still move under its own power, let alone shot.  
The group of soldiers made their way carefully down the passage way, looking every way they could, while also keeping the same forward speed. The passage had a rough look to it, and in some places they passed through areas where solid rock had been ripped clear through. The passage was oddly straight with few curves or twists to it, but it was rough. It was warm and stuffy down in the tunnel, but that could be accounted to the volcanic activity on Char and not on any lurking creatures, but it still mad the men uneasy.  
"What are we looking for anyway?" Asked on marine  
"The creature that attacked the base." Replied Darius  
"Uh huh, and what do we do when we find it?" queried the marine with just a slight quiver in his voice, he had seen the inside of some of the bunkers that had been attacked, and the horror that had been experienced there.  
"We kill it." Was the reply  
"How the Hell do you think we have any chance Commander?" Snapped the marine  
"I'll feed you to it, now shut up and keep walking before I spread your body all over this tunnel."  
The marine was quiet but he was still angry, but he knew when to shut up.  
A noise was then hearable from a distance in the tunnel a sound of breaking rock, with the occasional savage rumble. As they moved down the tunnel, the noise grew. They got closer and they could see movement with their gun mounted lights. They carefully approached but then they saw something else, a smaller figure by the back legs of the massive, swaying, Zerg creature. Even in the dim light, they could see that the smaller one was looking at them.  
In a flash the puppet had his skeletal wings out to there full length, making him look like one of the angles of Hell. He bent low, with the razor wing tips sticking ahead of him and he charged the group of men. The men answered the charge with a flurry of bullets, but a surge of psy energy knocked most of their rounds harmlessly away. Moving at a blinding speed, the Puppet ripped into the first marines armor with his wings and then scythed out on either side, ripping a long gash in the mans abdomen. The man fell to the ground in a pool of blood and entrails, while the puppet moved to his second target.  
The second man Swung his gun at the assailant but it was caught in the creatures claws and snapped in two like a toothpick, while the other claw came up and smashed through the marines suit, to his throat, where the Puppet closed on the mans throat and pulled his claw back out. Before the body had even fallen, he was already beginning his attack on the third.  
He reached out with him mind tore into the man's sanity; he saw demons and terrors from nightmares, swarming him. He shot wildly at the demons and his bullets went all-round, one of his shots hit Darius through his shoulder, he buckled to that side but brought his own gun to bear and sent one round through the berserk mans head, ending the demons and the threat to his squad from him.  
The Ghost in the squad activated a hidden switch on his exo suit, and it activated a hidden psy amplifier that had been equipped by Darius' order. He struck out with his mind, and he was the only other ghost to receive the psy training needed to fight down Overmind, but the first of the two to receive that training had been captured by the zerg, and now he was facing him. His first attack caught the puppet off guard, and caused him to stagger, but his advantage didn't last long. The Puppet began his counter, trying to break through the ghost's psy barriers but he resisted with amazing determination, and his psy amplifier increased its power. The puppet was puzzled by his lack of success but began to walk towards the ghost while keeping up his psychic onslaught, soon he was within striking distance and he swung at the ghost. The ghost has sensed it though and jumped back, but that weakened his psy defenses so the puppet redirected his fury there. They continued in their game for some time, one going physical reached out with his power towards the psy amplifier and began to fiddle with its inner workings, and the sudden disappearance of a psychic enemy and the increase in his amps power, caused the ghost to push far into the puppet's mind and actually feel the presence of the man he once was and the terror that was the Superior One. The Superior One felt a new presence in his link with the Puppet and he felt the familiar power and the expense of psychic power, only to have the other counter with psychic and sacrifice physical. But the Puppet was ultimately more powerful, and unlike the ghost, his psy power was not limited to the realm of the mind. He that made of a ghost, he lashed out with his mind and began to pummel the new human with the same force that he had attacked the puppet with, and the new ghost was no better, he to fell and his body was turned into a extension of the Superior one, with limbs moving as if they were being pulled with strings.  
The Ghost turned his head with a jerky movement, and looked at Darius with empty eyes. Darius gazed into the Ghost's eyes and saw that the man who he had once been was no more, he turned to the Puppet, its demonic form standing there, looking at the former Ghost with as much curiosity as arrogance, and he felt rage over the fact that that thing had once been his Son. He was never much of a Father but he had tried to turn his son into a man not by playing favorites but doing the opposite and coming down harder on him. He had nearly succeeded in making a man but now that was gone, so was his son, and he would not allow the Superior one to claim another soul.  
  
His shoulder still in pain from the last hit he had taken, he lifted his weapon and sent a shot through the ghosts head, before his new master had a chance to react. The man's head erupted and his body tumbled limply to join the other three men who had already died in the attack. This left Darius with only another three marines and himself. He decided that they would have no chance so he began to retreat, unleashing a hail of weapons fire to cover their escape. The puppet let out a screech at what had just happened, and struck out with his psychic force at one of the marines and ripped him apart in a flurry of armor and blood. He was starting to charge the running men when his master recalled him. Letting out one more shriek that would forever haunt the survivors of this attack, he returned to his master and entered the protective shell of the Superior One, where he would wait until needed again. 


End file.
